Adaptive power control for an electronic device

Abstract

A method of adaptively controlling the distribution of power supplied by a charger of an electronic device between an energy storage device and one or more hardware elements is provided. The method includes determining whether current communicated between the charger of the electronic device and the energy storage device satisfies a charging condition, the charging condition based on one or more of a direction of the current communicated and a magnitude of the current communicated, determining whether consumed system power consumed by the hardware elements satisfies a system power condition based on a determined system power limit, and adjusting power consumption of the one or more hardware elements of the electronic device to consume a different consumed system power within a predefined range of system power limits, based at least in part on satisfaction of the charging condition and satisfaction of the power supply condition.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of balancing distribution of power received by a charger in an electronic device from an external power source and distributing the power by the charger between an energy storage device in the electronic device and one or more hardware elements in the electronic device to satisfy a charging condition, the method comprising:
 measuring current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device including measuring one or more of a direction of the current and a magnitude of the current;   determining whether the measured current satisfies the charging condition based at least in part on one or more of the direction of the current and the magnitude of the current, wherein satisfaction of the charging condition indicates a threshold charging state of the energy storage device;   determining whether consumed system power consumed by the one or more hardware elements satisfies system power limits specifying an upper bound defining a maximum power level provided by the charger to the one or more hardware elements and specifying lower bound defining a minimum power level provided by the charger to the one or more hardware elements, wherein the upper bound and lower bound specified by the system power limits are set to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device that satisfies the charging condition; and   adjusting, by the charger, power consumption of the one or more hardware elements to consume a different consumed system power within the upper bound and the lower bound to provide sufficient charging power to charge the energy storage device within a predefined range of charge rates, based at least in part on satisfaction of the charging condition.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the consumed system power and the different consumed system power include power discharged from the energy storage device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether a reliability condition has been satisfied, wherein the operation of adjusting is based at least in part on satisfaction of the reliability condition, the reliability condition including one or more of an electronic device temperature, a predefined power limit of an electronic device component, and an energy storage device temperature.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the charging condition is based at least in part on whether a magnitude of charge of the energy storage device satisfies a fully charged condition. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the current communicated is modified based at least in part on the operation of adjusting the power consumption of the one or more hardware elements. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the system power limits based at least in part on the satisfaction of the charging condition.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the operation of adjusting includes modifying the current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device between a predefined minimum charge rate and a predefined maximum charge rate. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the satisfaction of the charging condition is based on current measured as flowing to or from the energy storage device. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein adjusting the power consumption is further based on whether the charger is determined to be receiving power from the external power source. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the system power limits are within a predefined range of system lower limits that is different than a predefined electronic device power source provision range, and the predefined electronic device power source provision range represents a range of variability that exists in power supplied by the external power source. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the charger distributes the power based on instructions transmitted between the charger and a power control system of the electronic device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the measured current satisfies the charging condition indicates that the energy storage device is charging below a predefined rate. 
     
     
         13 . An electronic device that balances distribution of power to satisfy a charging condition, comprising:
 an energy storage device;   one or more hardware elements that consume power;   a charger in the electronic device adapted to receive power from an external power source and to distribute the power between the energy storage device and the one or more hardware elements, wherein the charger is electrically coupled to the external power source;   an energy storage current sense to measure a current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device including measuring one or more of a direction of the current and a magnitude of the current; and   a power control system configured to:
 determine whether the measured current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device satisfies a charging condition based at least in part on one or more of the direction of the current and the magnitude of the current, wherein satisfaction of the charging condition indicates a threshold charging state of the energy storage device; 
 determine whether consumed system power consumed by the one or more hardware elements satisfies system power limits specifying an upper bound defining a maximum power level of the power provided by the charger to the one or more hardware elements and specifying a lower bound defining a minimum power level of the power provided by the charger to the one or more hardware elements, wherein the upper bound and lower bound specified by the system power limits are set to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device that satisfies the charging condition; and 
   wherein the charger is further configured to adjust power consumption of the one or more hardware elements to consume a different consumed system power within the upper bound and the lower bound to provide sufficient charging power to charge the energy storage device within a predefined range of charge rates, based at least in part on satisfaction of the charging condition.   
     
     
         14 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the consumed system power and the different consumed system power include power discharged from the energy storage device. 
     
     
         15 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the power control system is further configured to:
 determine whether a reliability condition has been satisfied, wherein the operation of adjusting is based at least in part on satisfaction of the reliability condition, the reliability condition including one or more of an electronic device temperature and an energy storage device temperature.   
     
     
         16 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the charging condition is based at least in part on whether a magnitude of charge of the energy storage device satisfies a fully charged condition. 
     
     
         17 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the current communicated is modified based at least in part on the adjustment of the power consumption of the one or more hardware elements. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the power control system is further configured to:
 determine the system power limits based at least in part on the satisfaction of the charging condition.   
     
     
         19 . The electronic device of  claim 13 , wherein the adjustment of power consumption includes modifying the current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device between a predefined minimum charge rate and a predefined maximum charge rate. 
     
     
         20 . One or more tangible processor-readable storage media embodied with instructions for executing on one or more processors and circuits of an electronic device a process for balancing distribution of power received by a charger in an electronic device from an external power source and distributing the power by the charger between an energy storage device in the electronic device and one or more hardware elements in the electronic device to satisfy a charging condition, the process comprising:
 measuring a current communicated between the charger in the electronic device and the energy storage device including measuring a direction of the current and a magnitude of the current;   determining whether the measured current satisfies a charging condition based at least in part on one or more of the direction of the current and the magnitude of the current, wherein satisfaction of the charging condition indicates a threshold charging state of the energy storage device;   determining whether consumed system power consumed by one or more hardware elements in the electronic device satisfies a system power condition based at least in part on a determined system power limits, wherein the determined system power limits specifying an upper bound of the determined system power limits defining a maximum power level of the power provided by the charger to the one or more hardware elements and specifying a lower bound defining a minimum power level of the power provided to the one or more hardware elements, wherein the upper bound and lower bound specified by the system power limits are set to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device that satisfies the charging condition; and   adjusting, by the charger, power consumption of the one or more hardware elements to consume a different consumed system power within the upper bound and the lower bound to provide sufficient charging power to charge the energy storage device within a predefined range of charge rates, based at least in part on satisfaction of the charging condition.   
     
     
         21 . The one or more tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 20 , wherein the consumed system power and the different consumed system power include power discharged from the energy storage device. 
     
     
         22 . The one or more tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 20 , the process further comprising:
 determining whether a reliability condition has been satisfied, wherein the adjustment of the power consumption is based at least in part on satisfaction of the reliability condition, the reliability condition including one or more of an electronic device temperature and an energy storage device temperature.   
     
     
         23 . The one or more tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 20 , the process further comprising:
 determining the system power limits based at least in part on the satisfaction of the charging condition wherein the charging condition is based at least in part on whether a magnitude of charge of the energy storage device satisfies a fully charged condition.   
     
     
         24 . The one or more tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 20 , wherein the current communicated is modified based at least in part on the adjustment of the power consumption of the one or more hardware elements. 
     
     
         25 . The one or more tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 20 , wherein the adjustment of power consumption includes modifying the current communicated between the charger and the energy storage device to maintain a rate of charge to the energy storage device between a predefined minimum charge rate and a predefined maximum charge rate.